Longlisted for the 2026 PEN / Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Winner of the 2025 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize.
A New York Times Book of the Year.
**A TIME's 100 Must-Read Book of 2025.
'The best divorce novel I've read for years.'
The Times
'A gem of a novel, one that will make you think, make you feel, and make you laugh.' ALISON ESPACH, author of The Wedding People
'One of the most delightful debuts I've read in a long time.' The New York Times
A man and a woman walk into a restaurant.
The woman hopes they will order the best wine on the menu.
Instead, her husband tells her he is having an affair with a woman called Maggie.
When her chest starts to ache, the woman goes to a doctor who tells her the pain in her breast isn't just heartbreak - but - cancer. She decides to call the tumour Maggie and begins to strike up a conversation with it.
In turns wildly funny and devastatingly tender, Maggie takes place during a pause -between divorce and marriage, sickness and health, the unknown and the status quo. In reaction to the unfolding chaos, the heartbroken woman creates 'A Guide to My Husband: A User's Manual' filled with a thousand facts for the real Maggie about the man they both love. In the tradition of Nora Ephron's writing on heartbreak and womanhood, Maggie is set to be the divorce novel of our age.
"Katie Yee's debut novel...is full of resentment-tinged wit, just like Nora Ephron's classic." The Times
*'*A wry meditation on grief, healing, and reclaiming one's identity.' TIME Magazine
'Katie Yee is a storyteller extraordinaire.' DELIA EPHRON, sister of Nora Ephron and author of Siracusa
'An absolutely delightful debut! An inspiring story of growth and wonder. Highly recommend!' ELIN HILDERBRAND, author of The Perfect Couple, now a major Netflix series
'Stands out as one of the most unusual literary debuts of the summer.' Washington Post
*'*A wry meditation on grief, healing, and reclaiming one's identity.' TIME Magazine
